Not So Cool Anymore

As a fan of Starbucks coffee, I often walk or drive around until I find the nearest store, frequently asking Siri, the voice in my iPhone, for directions.

She complied the other day when I was seeking a store en route from Enfield, Conn., to Providence R.I., sending me to a town called Hazardville.

In addition to enjoying the strong coffee, I like the atmosphere at Starbucks. But I was taken aback by a piece of artwork at the Hazardville location: In a grouping of several pleasant photos — a cup of coffee, a patio with a chairs and an umbrella table — was a picture of a young woman with a pierced lip and aviator glasses … and a cigarette dangling from her mouth.

In the face of efforts to cut down on smoking, one of my favorite stores was indirectly saying that smoking was cool. It might have seemed that way at some point, but it is definitely not cool now.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) calls tobacco "the single most preventable cause of disease, disability and death in the United States," noting that 443,000 people die from smoking or exposure to secondhand smoke each year.

I admit that when I first met my husband in the newsroom where we worked, I was drawn to his stereotypical newspaper editor look, with shirtsleeves rolled up and a cigarette dangling from his mouth as he typed furiously.

So he started smoking outside. As that baby grew into a young girl, she cried when she saw the cigarette butts outside: a sign that he wasn’t quitting. Finally he did. He was lucky.

A beautiful friend of mine died from lung cancer at age 46. She was a smoker who did not quit. She was also a mother of two and a friend to many.

Whenever I see young people smoking, I want to tell them that they’re crazy. Occasionally, I have said something but I always get a mind-your-own-business look.

According to the CDC, more than one-fifth of American teens smoke or use tobacco in some way, which means that millions of them are putting themselves at risk for early death.

Use of electronic cigarettes — called "vaping" — within the last 30 days was reported by 4.5 percent of high school students and by about 1 percent of middle school students. While the health effects of e-cigarettes remain unclear, the Surgeon General's report warns that any form of nicotine can harm teen brain development.

The drugstore chain CVS set a good example when it stopped selling tobacco products in all of its stores on Oct. 1. Health experts hope other major drugstore chains will follow suit.

CEO Larry Merlo's father died of tobacco-related cancer at age 57 and the mother of CVS/Pharmacy President Helene Foulkes died five years ago of lung cancer from smoking.

For me, it’s way cool to walk into a CVS pharmacy and be greeting by a sign saying, “We quit. So can you.”

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